Monthly Archives: October 2000

c. 2000 Religion News Service (Eugene Kennedy, a longtime observer of the Roman Catholic Church, is professor emeritus of psychology at Loyola University in Chicago and author most recently of “My Brother Joseph,” published by St. Martin’s Press.) (UNDATED) The pope and bishops should pay close attention to former President Jimmy Carter’s announcement that, in a certain Southern tradition, he has seceded from the Baptist church. Well, sort of, as, although he has severed his ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, he will continue to serve as a deacon and to teach Sunday School in his Plains, Ga., Maranatha Baptist Church that retains its ties to the SBC. The former president, perhaps the only public servant in our common memory who seemed deeply committed to religious belief, emerges now in a prophetic role he was never able to achieve during his presidency.

c. 2000 Religion News Service (Eugene Kennedy, a longtime observer of the Roman Catholic Church, is professor emeritus of psychology at Loyola University in Chicago and author most recently of “My Brother Joseph,” published by St. Martin’s Press.) (UNDATED) The pope and bishops should pay close attention to former President Jimmy Carter’s announcement that, in a certain Southern tradition, he has seceded from the Baptist church. Well, sort of, as, although he has severed his ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, he will continue to serve as a deacon and to teach Sunday School in his Plains, Ga., Maranatha Baptist Church that retains its ties to the SBC. The former president, perhaps the only public servant in our common memory who seemed deeply committed to religious belief, emerges now in a prophetic role he was never able to achieve during his presidency.

c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Since its first settlers sought to found a godly “city upon a hill,” America has been a nation shaped by religious zeal and by religious ignorance. But as growing diversity reconfigures the nation’s faith landscape, it is the ignorance, not the fervor, that poses the greater danger. For with ignorance comes suffering, especially when it polarizes citizens into prejudiced factions, a well-known scholar argues in two new books. Martin E. Marty, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago and well-known church historian, currently is serving at St.

c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Since its first settlers sought to found a godly “city upon a hill,” America has been a nation shaped by religious zeal and by religious ignorance. But as growing diversity reconfigures the nation’s faith landscape, it is the ignorance, not the fervor, that poses the greater danger. For with ignorance comes suffering, especially when it polarizes citizens into prejudiced factions, a well-known scholar argues in two new books. Martin E. Marty, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago and well-known church historian, currently is serving at St.

c. 2000 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Just days after the Christian Coalition began a massive mailing of 70 million of its controversial voter guides, two leading church-state watchdog groups have announced their own counter-offensive aimed at key battleground states in the Nov. 7 election. The Interfaith Alliance, a broad-based coalition of moderate and liberal religious groups, will release a letter from clergy to fellow clergy in seven battleground states and nine others on Wednesday (Oct. 25) urging them not to distribute the voter guides.

c. 2000 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Just days after the Christian Coalition began a massive mailing of 70 million of its controversial voter guides, two leading church-state watchdog groups have announced their own counter-offensive aimed at key battleground states in the Nov. 7 election. The Interfaith Alliance, a broad-based coalition of moderate and liberal religious groups, will release a letter from clergy to fellow clergy in seven battleground states and nine others on Wednesday (Oct. 25) urging them not to distribute the voter guides.

c. 2000 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Just days after the Christian Coalition began a massive mailing of 70 million of its controversial voter guides, two leading church-state watchdog groups have announced their own counter-offensive aimed at key battleground states in the Nov. 7 election. The Interfaith Alliance, a broad-based coalition of moderate and liberal religious groups, will release a letter from clergy to fellow clergy in seven battleground states and nine others on Wednesday (Oct. 25) urging them not to distribute the voter guides.

c. 2000 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Just days after the Christian Coalition began a massive mailing of 70 million of its controversial voter guides, two leading church-state watchdog groups have announced their own counter-offensive aimed at key battleground states in the Nov. 7 election. The Interfaith Alliance, a broad-based coalition of moderate and liberal religious groups, will release a letter from clergy to fellow clergy in seven battleground states and nine others on Wednesday (Oct. 25) urging them not to distribute the voter guides.

c. 2000 Religion News Service TRAPPES, FRANCE _ A few blocks from the train station, past solid stone houses laced with autumnal trees, the blackened shell of the Trappes synagogue casts a grim shadow over this placid west Paris suburb. As a raw rain beats down, Michel Mimouni climbs over yellow police tape to point out the charred roof, the black smoke stains spidering across plaster walls, and the blasted windows where a small pot of red geraniums still peeks out. Earlier this month, the faithful gathered here to mark the holy day of Yom Kippur, said 62-year-old Mimouni, who heads Trappes’ tiny Jewish community of about 38 families. A day later, the small synagogue was torched, and left the town’s mostly North African Jews fearful that there will be more violence.

c. 2000 Religion News Service TRAPPES, FRANCE _ A few blocks from the train station, past solid stone houses laced with autumnal trees, the blackened shell of the Trappes synagogue casts a grim shadow over this placid west Paris suburb. As a raw rain beats down, Michel Mimouni climbs over yellow police tape to point out the charred roof, the black smoke stains spidering across plaster walls, and the blasted windows where a small pot of red geraniums still peeks out. Earlier this month, the faithful gathered here to mark the holy day of Yom Kippur, said 62-year-old Mimouni, who heads Trappes’ tiny Jewish community of about 38 families. A day later, the small synagogue was torched, and left the town’s mostly North African Jews fearful that there will be more violence.

c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Former President Jimmy Carter, long known as a Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher, has announced he “can no longer be associated with” the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. In a statement and letter released Thursday (Oct. 19), Carter said he had come to this decision after Southern Baptists approved a revamped statement of faith this summer. “Although I will continue my work as a Baptist deacon and Sunday School teacher in Maranatha Baptist Church …

c. 2000 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Former President Jimmy Carter, long known as a Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher, has announced he “can no longer be associated with” the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. In a statement and letter released Thursday (Oct. 19), Carter said he had come to this decision after Southern Baptists approved a revamped statement of faith this summer. “Although I will continue my work as a Baptist deacon and Sunday School teacher in Maranatha Baptist Church …

c. 2000 Religion News Service (Dale Hanson Bourke is the mother of two teen-agers and the author of five books.) (UNDATED) “Sticks and stones may break your bones, but namesâÂ?¦” As it turns out, names can not only hurt you, they could be the reason for the rage driving teen-agers to kill, according to a new study conducted by the U.S. Secret Service. Over the last year, the Secret Service conducted a study of school violence, including interviews with teen-agers responsible for school shootings. The results of their study are chilling. At first it appeared the teens had little in common.

c. 2000 Religion News Service (Dale Hanson Bourke is the mother of two teen-agers and the author of five books.) (UNDATED) “Sticks and stones may break your bones, but namesâÂ?¦” As it turns out, names can not only hurt you, they could be the reason for the rage driving teen-agers to kill, according to a new study conducted by the U.S. Secret Service. Over the last year, the Secret Service conducted a study of school violence, including interviews with teen-agers responsible for school shootings. The results of their study are chilling. At first it appeared the teens had little in common.

c. 2000 Religion News Service Survey: Gore Trails Both Bush and Nader Among U.S. Muslims (RNS) Vice President Al Gore is behind both Texas Gov. George W. Bush and Green Party candidate Ralph Nader among likely U.S. Muslim voters, according to a survey by a leading Muslim advocacy group. In the non-scientific poll released Tuesday (Oct. 17) by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Bush is supported by 40 percent of Muslim voters, with Nader receiving 25 percent and Gore receiving 24 percent. Those numbers are dramatically different from a similar June poll, when Gore led Bush by 32 percent to 28 percent.